Published 3:05 am, Wednesday, July 9, 2014

AUSTIN - In response to President Barack Obama's request for $3.7 billion in emergency funding to address the current immigration crisis on our border and his arrival in Texas today to host a border roundtable in Dallas, Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott released the following statement:

"The emergency funding President Obama finally requested is exactly what Texas has been asking for from the federal government for years. Had the Obama Administration provided adequate resources to do its job and secure our border from the beginning, the magnitude of the current crisis could have been mitigated. As it stands, Texans have been footing the bill for border security operations that are the responsibility of the federal government, so the federal government must reimburse our state for costs incurred by Texas taxpayers shouldering the burden of a broken immigration system. Even the new funding proposal by President Obama shortchanges Texans by neglecting to include any reimbursement for costs incurred by Texas taxpayers responding to the crisis caused by the federal government."